The Global Credit Crisis: Implications for European Wealth Management

The Global Credit Crisis: Implications for European Wealth Management

Uncertainty about financial stability, domestic demand for products and services, inflation, and other financial factors are putting the world economy at risk and are likely to have a significant impact on wealth management.

The European banking and credit systems have been severely affected by the financial crisis, and more risks lie ahead. The North American subprime crisis has had significant ramifications across financial products, markets, and regions. European governments are trying to counteract the financial turmoil as much as possible, but the slowdown in economic activity has made this task fairly difficult.

In a new report, The Global Credit Crisis: Implications for European Wealth Management, Celent provides a perspective on the complexities of what is happening in the European wealth management industry as a result of the current credit crisis.

Key findings of this report include:

• For European investors, this crisis has meant a shift from risky assets toward wealth management service providers that instill trust in their clients and can provide a more personal advisory experience.
• In Europe, governments are working hard to counteract the effects of the crisis. Nonetheless, the European economy is experiencing a loss of liquidity and overall pessimism with regards to financial markets.
• The various European economies have witnessed different effects of the crisis, generally depending on the overall maturity of their financial markets. In general, the more mature Western European economies have seen more negative effects from the crisis.
• In terms of product popularity, there is a dramatic shift towards low-risk products and away from complex products.
• As the market realigns, providers will focus on offering value-added services, increasing their assets under management, and making effective use of technology to gain and retain customers.

"The current market developments on a global basis have created tremendous financial instability across markets. The world has changed drastically and a high level of uncertainty has spread to all customer segment levels, reducing confidence in investing across financial products," says Isabella Fonseca, Celent senior analyst and author of the report.

The report is 52 pages long and contains 24 figures and 4 tables. A table of contents is available online.

of Celent's Wealth Management research service can download the report electronically by clicking on the icon to the left. Non-members should contact info@celent.com for more information.